GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

have a 2005 vibe 113,000. going to do a coolant flush. seems to have been done before as the fluid is green in there.
question is: has anyone used compressed air through the heater core to flush most of the distilled water out of the system after flushing by running the engine? I read about this on here how you hook up vinyl hose to the top and bottom heater core hoses, blow compressed air through, hook up one of the original hoses back on and blow more air through to drain the engine block as best as possible, and then button everything back up and refill.

since the fluid is green i wanted to be sure its flushed as best as possible and I was leaning toward zerex asian 50/50 to refill unless theres a better/easier way.. People have mentioned prestone coolant as well.... i just dont know what to replace this green fluid with at this point or if it really matters all that much.
this is beating a dead horse, just curious if anyone tried the compressed air like this and what fluid they went with afterwards.

I never heard of the compressed air "flush", but it sounds like a great idea, low pressure of course. Probably the only way to get close to a 50% solution, with full strength fluid getting so hard to find.
I believe Zerex Asian is exactly what you need. Consider changing old hoses.
Let us know how it goes!

Fill and drain with distilled water until it comes out clear enough to your liking. Just accept that there is going to be some water stuck in the system and compensate with your coolant ratio.

Toyota sells 100% long-life coolant, compensate for the water stuck in the block by using a 60/40 or 70/30 ratio of coolant. You can always test it a few days later using a cheap coolant hydrometer and adjust accordingly.

Get that green stuff out of there asap or it will eat your water pump. The Toyota stuff is designed to play well with your pump and block.

Okay thank you. I really wanted to find a concentrate coolant to use for this reason, and saw the Toyota red, but it's only a 2 year fluid from what I understand. Is there a comparable concentrates coolant which has a longer life? I haven't been able to sort this out

Toyota long-life coolant is good for 5 years or 50K miles after the initial 100K miles.

Yes, I do the forced air flush on all my vehicles by removing the thermostat, then using the blower end of a Shop Vac hose over the radiator inlet.

The forced air from the vacuum pushes all of the coolant in the radiator and around the block out in seconds without having to remove the knock sensors. Just hold it there until no more coolant comes out and you're good-to-go.

PonchoGT wrote:Yes, I do the forced air flush on all my vehicles by removing the thermostat, then using the blower end of a Shop Vac hose over the radiator inlet.

The forced air from the vacuum pushes all of the coolant in the radiator and around the block out in seconds without having to remove the knock sensors. Just hold it there until no more coolant comes out and you're good-to-go.

Great idea! Thanks,
Does this remove essentially all old coolant or do you open the block drain after this to remove any coolant left behind?

Open the radiator petcock (or remove the lower radiator hose) and my method will drain ALL the old coolant out, completely evacuating the system. When finished, close the valve, re-attach the thermostat, then fill according to manufacturer's directions.

AWESOME! Thanks,